People are so smart, Why do they still believe in god?

Question

Don't bring up Albert Einstein here. He had to say that he believed at the time, otherwise he would have been treated like Galileo - like a nuttcase.! So he said the following to escape prejudice.

Now you will say ALBERT EINSTEIN believed..
What he actually said was, "“It was, of course, a lie what you read about my religious convictions, a lie which is being systematically repeated. I do not believe in a personal God and I have never denied this but have expressed it clearly. If something is in me which can be called religious then it is the unbounded admiration for the structure of the world so far as our science can reveal it.”"

Anyway, AE is not the subject here.

People are so smart, Why do they still believe in god?

Answer 1

I’m inclined to believe the biggest attractions to religion is fear.

Fear of death, fear of dying, fear of loosing for ever someone you love.

Toss in a religion (any one, they all are primarily the same) and there’s now no need to fear death because it becomes a transitional period, dying becomes a rite of passage, and every one you ever lost will be waiting for you on the other side as well you’ll be there to greet the ones you left behind.

With that, we ease the fears every living creature on earth has.

In the day to day life of a religious person, the faith they follow takes on a parental role.

The greater part of ones developmental years is safe-guarded by your parents, as a result your comfort is in that you are being watched over and protected.

The safety and serenity of “someone who loves me is watching over me” is an addictive drug.

Lastly few people want responsibility for things, my car broke down, i lost my job and my dog died because god is mad at me....or better yet....because mean ol' satin is tryin to make me loose my faith.

not...i didn't change my oil in a year, i got cought sleeping on the job 10 times in a row and i forgot to feed fido all last week....no no it's never that, there always has to be greater forces out there making things happen to you...good= god did it...bad = satan did it.

none of it is my fault...being in a religion makes you just a pawn in someone elses game, so in your mind nothing is your fault

Answer 2

You imply that smart people could not possibly believe in God. I disagree.

Many people on this site seem to perceive a conflict between religion and science. I see no such conflict, because both religion and science have a common goal -- discovering truth about the way the universe works. In fact, the scientific method does involve exercise of faith. The process of forming a hypothesis and testing it involves faith in the theory and that what you are doing will give the expected result. So, actually, what religious people do and what scientific people do is not all that different.

The problem is when people misunderstand the nature of things that they learn through scientific means. All scientists at the top of their fields will tell you that, while they hold firmly that their theories are true, they are just that -- theories that haven't been disproven yet. In fact, one important characteristic of a good scientific theory is that it is disprovable. So people who claim that the knowledge that they have gained through scientific study of problems is the absolute truth all the time are doomed to get left behind in the dust when science moves beyond what they "know".

And, by the way, whether or not Albert Einstein believed in God, there are plenty of famous scientists who do for real. Henry Eyring, for example, the father of the science of kinetics, was a devout member of my church.

Answer 3

Because eather you are ignorant or you denie the truth.

If you were smart, you will see this universe and this earth and our brain then you will undersatnd that those things can't be all toghether as coincidence,
What is the probability to find a planet with oxygen only.
how about water only? how about vegetation only? how about other creaturs?

not only on earth we have all these compounds but also if you see, we creatures that fly, swim, live in waters, inside the earth, on the earth, . we have food like apples, bananas, tomatos and thousands of others. can you bring me just one nut from another planet?
we have trees, wood, Iron, silver, Gold..... oil, fish to eat, chiken, lamb, beef...others, can you tell me what would you eat on ?
can you believe this is just a coincidence, there is no God.
who put the sun, without it no life.
who put the earth at this known distance from the sun, if faraway by some inches, we wil freez, if close to the sun by some inches we will burn.
and who control the universe, why the planets didn't hit us, why and why and why.
how about our body, don't you see that we eat and our body is like a factory you have energy, heat, you have reflexes, .....
you have a biochimistry stomach, an engine all things you want for locomotion.
think when you jump, when you swim, when you run, when you use your fingers......everything is perfect, because God is perfect and wise.

for Atheist http://www.leveltruth.com/documents/Appendix2.pdf

for agnostic http://www.leveltruth.com/documents/Appendix3.pdf

Answer 4

"My earlier views of the unsoundness of the Christian scheme of salvation and the human origin of the scriptures have become clearer and stronger with advancing years, and I see no reason for thinking I shall ever change them."
-Abraham Lincoln

"My view is that if there is no evidence for it, then forget about it."
-Carl Sagan

"I do not believe in a personal God."
-Stephen Hawking

The religious people who believe they are smarter than all of science are actually quite amusing. Sadly, attempting to teach them meets with resistance. They don't want it all explained and their silly questions answered about probability and evolution and fine-tuning and the structure of a bird's wing. Leave them be. They don't want explanations because explanations seem to lessen things somehow, to take away the grand mystery that makes special things special. By destroying their concept of God, we rob them of their sense of security that stems from Freud's Great Father Figure in the sky. We take away their hope for a better future in heaven and the very meaning of their lives. It is no wonder that many turn away from this because they don't see the light on the other side of the darkness, the joy of understanding, the pure rationality of seeking non-instant gratification, the beauty of evolution and cosmology and order arising from the random. What right do we have to explain how it works to them?

Answer 5

They believe because it is easy to do so. Look at the way that religion is defended: God exists because what else could have created such wonder!!! Their logic is cyclical in nature. So you cannot win an argument over it. Look at this video and see how absurd their logic is:
Atheists nightmare - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9zwbhAXe5yk

So absurd yet they use this kind of logic to define their lord. Do you recognize the actor on the right? haha, its Kirk Cameron from Growing Pains (tv show). Anyways, my point is, that if you use the definition of God as the definition of god, then most likely there is a problem with the definition. ie you cannot use the word you are defining in the definition. Religious logic is cyclical.

Answer 6

I have no idea.
Call it Catholic-guilt installed early-on, but the older I get, the more I see the world around me, the more I see the ignorance of people, criminals and the like...it scares the hell out of me to think that there ISN'T a God.
I'm not a bible thumper or holy-roller, and I couldn't quote any eye-opening verses for you.
I just know how I feel: I'd rather live my life thinking there is a God and find out there's not, than to live my life without faith and hope and thinking there is NOT a God, only to find out that there is.
I don't think "smarts" has anything to do with it...it's just was makes sense to each individual.

Answer 7

As smart as Albert Einstein was, his mind seemed only able to encompass the "here and now." Those of us who break beyond the bounds of the observable universe understand the eternal mysteries of the Divine. Those of you living in the Paradigm of "only what I see do I believe" are trapped within the confines of your reason.

If you believe that only the Universe exists, and nothing beyond it, then I truly feel sad for you, for the Universe will end some day. If you cannot stretch your mind to think "outside the box" of time-space, then you are truly foolish.

Answer 8

Too stupid now to not snort at! and evidently completely un Christian and un American and in breach of atheists rights lower than the structure! interior united statesa., atheism is secure lower than the first modification's free workout Clause. In August 2005, in a case the position a penal complicated inmate became blocked by penal complex officials from growing to be an inmate crew to earnings and communicate atheism, the court ruled this violated the inmate's rights lower than the first modification's free workout Clause. united statesa. court of Appeals for the seventh Circuit affirmed previous best court precedent by ruling atheism be afforded equivalent safe practices with religions lower than the first modification. obviously placing out that atheism isn't a faith yet IS afforded a similar safe practices as a faith lower than the structure! Why is it so problematical that you'll be able to stay with the concept human beings remember on a special thanks to your self? Are you yet another that has abandoned Christianity and the conception in a loving god for the excitement of being anti atheist and indulging in all that negative human emotion hostile on your fellow guy? What do you human beings call your new faith?

Answer 9

There are reasonable reasons for believing God. First of all, miracles do occur. Second, prophecies have come true. Third, the Bible and other works compose a morality that leads to a unity of man that would, indeed, be a source of peace, if understood by all, and not argued about based on someones own pride.

Answer 10

If there is no god,then what is the purpose of life?You need to ask yourself that everyday,and then theres those that will say we evolved from animals, I ask where did the animals evolve from and if there is an answer then where did that come from? I am amazed today people will believe in rocks and idols anything but god , I dont know ,I will never understand it.